Download seminar - La Trobe University

Institute for Advanced Study
SEMINAR
“Erlitou: A major focus
for the study of state formation in early China”
Guest Speaker:
Professor Hong Xu
Professor; Deputy Director of Department of Xia-Shang-Zhou Archaeology at the Institute of Archaeology,
Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), Beijing, China. Head of the Erlitou Work Team of this
institute; Professor of the Department of Archaeology in the Graduate School, CASS. Received Ph.D
degree in Archaeology in 1996. Currently IAS VIP Visitor, La Trobe University. Main areas of research:
Archaeology of Chinese Bronze Age and urbanism. Over 50 publications including a book, as well as book
chapters and refereed journal articles.
3.00 p.m., Thursday 11th May 2006
Seminar Hall
Institute for Advanced Study Administration Building
(Melways Ref: Map 573, f1)
Erlitou, a Bronze Age site situated in the Central Plains of northern China, is the largest among all its
contemporary sites in East Asia from the early part of second millennium BC. The Erlitou site and the
eponymous Erlitou culture have been major foci of continuing controversy among Chinese scholars and
Western Sinologists. Various interpretations have been put forth regarding its social organization
(chiefdom, the earliest or relatively developed state-level society) and its historic affiliation with either Xia
or Shang Dynasty. In recent excavations at Erlitou, we have discovered a road network around the palace
complex, the enclosing walls of the palace complex, and areas for producing prestige goods, including
turquoise artifacts. The results of recent researches shed new light on early urbanism in ancient China,
suggesting that some previous propositions about the nature of Erlitou need to be revised.
Seminar Convener:
Julia Anderson – phone: 9479 3461 or email: [email protected]